There has been conventionally known a semiconductor device that includes: a terminal having a part exposed to the outside and also having a film made of Au or other material on an outermost surface thereof; a bonding wire connected to the film; and a protection member covering a contact portion of the terminal with the bonding wire.
This type of semiconductor device is proposed in Patent Literature 1, for example. A semiconductor device proposed in Patent Literature 1 includes a case having a semiconductor element, and a terminal embedded in the case such that a part of the terminal is exposed to the outside. The outermost surface of the exposed part is formed of a film made of Au or other material (hereinafter referred to as outermost film). The semiconductor device further includes a bonding wire made of Au or other material and connected to the outermost film of the terminal to electrically connect the semiconductor element and the terminal, and a protection member covering a contact portion of the terminal with the bonding wire.
The inventors of the present application have found the following. According to the semiconductor device which includes the case, and the terminal embedded in the case such that a part of the terminal is exposed to the outside like the semiconductor device described in Patent Literature 1, external moisture or the like may enter the interface between the case and terminal, reaching the interior of the semiconductor device in some cases. When moisture enters the interface between the terminal and the protection member, adhesion between the terminal and the protection member may lower. Consequently, the protection member may separate from the terminal. When the protection member separates from the outermost film of the terminal and becomes loose or movable, stress may concentrate on the bonding wire and cut the bonding wire.